How to Use Cloud Solutions for Business to Save Time and Money| By |Mike Kappel

Small business owners have a lot to do. You’re paying bills, marketing your business, managing employees, scheduling appointments, and more.

Cloud solutions for business can help you save time and money, and make your business more efficient.

When you put your small business in the cloud, you have less or no paper to handle. All your documents can be stored in the cloud. You don’t have to worry about having physical storage for documents. Also, your data is backed up and secure, meaning you are less likely to lose your things than if you had them stored on your desktop or in a filing cabinet.

With cloud-based solutions, you don’t have to do maintenance or pay someone to do it for you. The provider will automatically update the software.

Using the cloud for business also makes you mobile. You can do business from anywhere you have an internet connection. You aren’t stuck in your office chair.

5 cloud solutions for business

Below are some of the cloud-based business solutions that can benefit your small business.

Banking

You might already do online banking for yourself, but did you know you can do it for your business, too?

Online banking can help you see how much money you have in your business bank account at this very moment. You can also move money around your accounts as needed.

Online banking might also allow you to pay off loans, manage check services, do virtual deposits, and pay some bills.

Payroll

Cloud tools for small business let you run payroll online without needing to learn how to do payroll by hand. You can enter employee hours, approve the payroll, and pay employees—all from the software.

If you print payroll checks, you can do so directly from the software. You can use the cloud payroll software to pay employees with direct deposit, too.

You can handle attendance management in the cloud. This is the way you keep track of employee hours. You can record time worked, overtime hours, sick time, and vacation time used. You can also have employees take care of these tasks if you use online employee self-service software.

Collaboration tools

If you have any employees who work remotely, you need cloud collaboration tools. These small business cloud services can keep your team connected and informed.

A common collaboration tool is email. When you have a business email that’s hosted in the cloud, you and your employees can access it at any time and from anywhere.

Chat services are also popular. You can instantly communicate with your employees, almost as if you were in person.

If you want to see your remote employee, you can use video conferencing tools. Using cloud-based video services can be beneficial when you need to meet with your team.

Social media management

Social media can take a lot of your time, especially if you manage several accounts on multiple platforms. Social media cloud solutions for business can free up some of your time.

You can use cloud-based social media software to schedule your posts in advance. Instead of figuring out what to post every day, you can plan several posts at one time and put them in the queue to publish.

Online social media tools can also help you determine what posts perform the best. Analytics can tell you what kinds of posts your audience likes and the best times for you to publish them.

Accounting

Cloud accounting software lets you store your accounting data online. You can check on your accounts or record transactions from anywhere.

Cloud software can help you solve startup accounting problems, such as disorganized records. Your records and reports are stored neatly online. You can easily find the documents you need.

When you use accounting cloud solutions for small business, you can generate reports to monitor your business’s financial health. Reports show you how much you have in each account and let check on your cash flow.